Hello!
I am a new mouse mommy (though not a new to rodents). As of last month, being suprised by both of my mice giving birth three weeks later (last tuesday.), I now have 17 mice.
Though I may have two homes for 4 of my pups in a few weeks, I'm still going to have a large crowd to satisfy space with. (Two mothers, 15 pups- even giving 4 away leaves me with 11.)
Small pets are my hobby, so the aspect of owning all of them doesn't overwhelm me really- it's rather exciting. I'm a homebody highschool student, so the cost and the time is really no issue for me. (In fact my old plans were getting a horse, but I just don't have at least $350 a month to put towards it.- Mice, even in this quantity, is nothing compared to horse care.)
So now that I've got that all explained, I'd like to ask all of you fellow mouse owners for your ideas and advice in making this mega-sized cage. (Not mega necessarily because they need a lot of room, but because I personally want to make a really big, amazing cage that will give them a lot to do in it *and would be fun to show off
*)
I'm a very artsy person, so coming up with a design for the cage will not be difficult for me. I do have a few questions though- first I'll lay my idea out to you.
The dementions I'm not sure of yet (which is one of the things I wanted to ask- how much room should each mouse have? Especially the males, since they're territorial.)
I would need to come up with some sort of large cage bottom, and for ventilation I need to find some sort of (cage)wire for the sides, doors, and tops. I would want this to be one big cage that is seperated into two sections, obviously one part being for males, one part being for females. I also want to make multiple stories in the cage.
Now for the questions:
1. What sort of material should I have for the bottom? I know wood for anything is not a good idea, since the wood will absorb the pee. It would need to be something durable so they can't knaw through it, and easy to clean. I want the cage to over all be a really good quality, but not necessarily made with very expensive materials.
2. Is there any sort of wiring in particular out there that could be used that's small enough for mice not to fit through? For bigger rodents, some say to use the wired shelfing, fooling with a few of those to come up with some good walls for guinea pigs, rats, etc. Of course, that's WAY too big a spacing for mice....
3. For seperating it into two sections, I've heard that mice have mated through cage bars.... I don't need any more mouse babies anytime soon. What should I use for the dividers? (For those worrying, I believe that out of the 15 only 6 are males- who knows, maybe some of my friends will take some and that number will go down. Either way, I'm seeing if they get along- hopefully by giving them a lot of room to mark out their own territories, they'll cooperate. If they don't, I will seperate them in the many other cages I've got floating around, and one lucky buck will be reciving the bachlor's suite.)
4. What should I make the upper level platforms out of? More material like the bottom?
I am a new mouse mommy (though not a new to rodents). As of last month, being suprised by both of my mice giving birth three weeks later (last tuesday.), I now have 17 mice.
Though I may have two homes for 4 of my pups in a few weeks, I'm still going to have a large crowd to satisfy space with. (Two mothers, 15 pups- even giving 4 away leaves me with 11.)
Small pets are my hobby, so the aspect of owning all of them doesn't overwhelm me really- it's rather exciting. I'm a homebody highschool student, so the cost and the time is really no issue for me. (In fact my old plans were getting a horse, but I just don't have at least $350 a month to put towards it.- Mice, even in this quantity, is nothing compared to horse care.)
So now that I've got that all explained, I'd like to ask all of you fellow mouse owners for your ideas and advice in making this mega-sized cage. (Not mega necessarily because they need a lot of room, but because I personally want to make a really big, amazing cage that will give them a lot to do in it *and would be fun to show off
I'm a very artsy person, so coming up with a design for the cage will not be difficult for me. I do have a few questions though- first I'll lay my idea out to you.
The dementions I'm not sure of yet (which is one of the things I wanted to ask- how much room should each mouse have? Especially the males, since they're territorial.)
I would need to come up with some sort of large cage bottom, and for ventilation I need to find some sort of (cage)wire for the sides, doors, and tops. I would want this to be one big cage that is seperated into two sections, obviously one part being for males, one part being for females. I also want to make multiple stories in the cage.
Now for the questions:
1. What sort of material should I have for the bottom? I know wood for anything is not a good idea, since the wood will absorb the pee. It would need to be something durable so they can't knaw through it, and easy to clean. I want the cage to over all be a really good quality, but not necessarily made with very expensive materials.
2. Is there any sort of wiring in particular out there that could be used that's small enough for mice not to fit through? For bigger rodents, some say to use the wired shelfing, fooling with a few of those to come up with some good walls for guinea pigs, rats, etc. Of course, that's WAY too big a spacing for mice....
3. For seperating it into two sections, I've heard that mice have mated through cage bars.... I don't need any more mouse babies anytime soon. What should I use for the dividers? (For those worrying, I believe that out of the 15 only 6 are males- who knows, maybe some of my friends will take some and that number will go down. Either way, I'm seeing if they get along- hopefully by giving them a lot of room to mark out their own territories, they'll cooperate. If they don't, I will seperate them in the many other cages I've got floating around, and one lucky buck will be reciving the bachlor's suite.)
4. What should I make the upper level platforms out of? More material like the bottom?